All fabric, all the time!

June 11, 2013

Spring Quilt Market Recap!

Howdy! Well, it's been a few weeks since Spring Quilt Market in Portland and I think I've finally recovered. There was A LOT to see! We had a great time in Portland and even got time to do a little bit o' tax-free shopping. I don't really even know where to start, but I'll give it a try - here goes!

I think we can safely say that Tula Pink is one of Quilt Sandwich's most favorite designers EVER! We got to meet her and newsflash: she is awesome. Also, she is tall, not unlike Quilt Sandwich, so we liked her even more. (I was the shorty in the group at 5'11".) However, let's focus on the quilts. This stunner in Tula's booth was amazing! I love love LOVE IT.

I just love all of the different blocks and the quilting is gorgeous (probably Angela Walters, but I didn't actually ask.)

Also, Tula had a really cool floor in her booth. These cool motifs are from a fabric in her upcoming collection called Acacia (it's also used in the border of the butterfly quilt). I love these weird geometric designs and the colors are so pretty. Needless to say we are counting the days until we get our Acacia fabric!

Another favorite person of ours is Heather Bailey and her booth was amazing. (Also, she is tall too! We know how to pick them.) She won a creativity award for it! One whole wall was covered with a natural colored burlap fabric that had a beautiful embroidered design on it to announce Heather's upcoming embroidery patterns. The really cool thing is that Heather actually embroidered on it while we watched! She used a huge needle and yarn for the design. What a great idea - interactive and inspiring.

Next, here's a quilt pattern I really loved - I am a sucker for my iPhone, so of course a quilted version is going to catch my eye! I also loved the colors and patterns in this fabric, which is a new collection called Collage by Such Designs. The quilt pattern is also by Such Designs - her entire booth was really interesting. Collage will be coming out soon from Windham Fabrics.

Another cool quilt at the Windham booth was made from Lotta Jansdotter's newest line, Glimma. We love Lotta's simple Scandinavian look, and her color scheme in this line is beautiful - bright colors like turquoise, fuchsia and gold are toned down with charcoal, taupe and navy. I love this quilt!

Continuing on with a Scandinavian theme, we have this adorable quilt made out of the Nordika collection by Jeni Baker for Art Gallery Fabrics. Hexagons are all the rage, and these ones are in such fun, bright colors and patterns on a dark charcoal background to make them pop.

Speaking of things popping, you might want to put on some sunglasses for the next one because your eyeballs are probably going to go blind from the colors. That's not to say that it isn't AWESOME because it is! I LOVE me some bright red, pink and turquoise, especially when combined with adorable Japanese-inspired art. This was at the Robert Kaufman booth and was so eye-catching and cute. I totally want fluffy white chairs now!

More Japanese inspiration! I am OBSESSED with this chair! This is from Rashida Coleman-Hale's awesome booth. Rashida has two collections of graphic, simple fabric designs with Japanese flair for Cloud 9 fabrics (which means it's organic too!). The chair and footstool here are from her current collection called Tsuru.

Rashida also has another collection coming out later this summer called Koi which is also beautiful. Instead of bright colors, she used jewel tones accented with soft neutrals. I love all of these clutches! I can't wait to get these fabrics!

Continuing our trip around the world, we now go to Australian quilter Jen Kingwell. Jen's booth was gorgeous! The whole thing was covered in her amazing quilts, like this one called Steampunk. Jen has some great patterns for sale and we are hoping to start carrying them soon! We love her eclectic use of colors and patterns, and those pillows are so cool! We can never get enough of circus fonts.

Now, back to the U.S. - Portland, Oregon, to be precise. Did you know that Portland is also referred to as Bridgetown? There's a reason for it - there are bridges galore there! If you're driving in Portland, make sure you know which one you're on. Portland designer Violet Craft was inspired by the bridges and more with her new collection Waterfront Park for Michael Miller. I don't know if I can describe how much I love it - the colors are all fab, from coral and lilac to chartreuse and charcoal, it's all fresh and funky. She has tons of great prints with bridges, birds, hexagon tiles and cherry blossoms, and her booth had this beautiful quilt and bench in it.

We spent A LOT of time at the Alexander Henry booth, and if you've followed our shop at all, you know how obsessed we are with the Henry! They just have a way with unique, special fabric designs. Their booth was very cute and patchwork-ey and featured a new collection called Everyday Eden, which is full of flowers, birds and more in vibrant colors. There was so much to see that I can't recap it all here, but luckily I did a round-up of what's new for Alexander Henry over at True Up, one of our favorite blogs. Click on the link to see what else is coming soon!

One great thing about Quilt Market is finding new products to try out. So far we've mainly stuck to just fabric since there is so much already that we love, but we've decided to try some ribbon out. Some of our favorite designers, such as Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett and the aforementioned Tula Pink, have collaborated with Renaissance Ribbons to create some truly lovely ribbons! You can use these ribbons as accents on quilts, pillows, clothing, tea towels, bags, and more - it's all machine washable! The ribbons are woven, not printed, and a few are even reversible. They are totally stunning! One of my favorite ideas was these beautiful cuffs made out of Amy Butler ribbon and vintage brooches. I am totally doing this.

There was way more than just this at Market too - so much so that I didn't get pictures of everything and even if I did, this blog post would just be too long to cover it all. But we are getting lots of great fabric in from Andover (new Lizzy House and awesome Allison Glass basics!), Birch (more organic including Charley Harper!), Blend and Anna Griffing (we'll be getting new Halloween and Christmas from Blend!), David Textiles (ONE DIRECTION - need I say more?!), In The Beginning, Westminster, and probably more that I'm forgetting (sorry, other companies!).

Finally, it wouldn't be a trip to Portland without a visit to Voodoo Doughnut! And if you're going to Voodoo Doughnut, you might as well get a doughnut with Cap'n Crunch on it. Here's their display case of their fabulously colorful treats! (Also, I scored said Cap'n Crunch doughnut for free, just for wearing a Van Halen t-shirt. Thank you, anonymous Voodoo Doughnut employee!)

Also, FYI re Voodoo Doughnut:

Whew, we made it! Thanks for reading and supporting Quilt Sandwich Fabrics! We will let you know when our new awesome fabrics arrive. In the meantime, check out our current finds!